Luxury car brand Genesis marks first anniversary through year-long partnership with Great Big Story

Today, a new channel called 'Origins' is launching on Great Big Story as a home entirely dedicated to exploring the unexpected history of things, from design to food to pop culture. Born out of audience demand, the channel will live across greatbigstory.com and Great Big Story apps, and deliver surprising and wonderfully-told origin stories every week that resonate deeply with Great Big Story fans. The creation of Origins also marks the beginning of a significant partnership with luxury automotive brand Genesis, which will sponsor the premium editorial storytelling and collaborate with Great Big Story on Origins-related branded content through the end of 2017.

In Great Big Story’s first year-long global partnership, Genesis branding will be integrated into Origins, which will include over 50 editorial and branded content videos about origins of ideas and creations from all over the world, including many stories emanating from Korea. Origins sits alongside the existing channels of Human Condition, Frontiers, Planet Earth and Flavors on the Great Big Story app and website, with videos published across its social channels, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, reaching over 10 million multi-platform followers.

The Genesis campaign, created in partnership with CNN International Commercial, is the brand’s first significant branded content campaign. It is designed to build and establish Genesis as a premier luxury brand in the global market. The brand has been launched in Korea, North America, Russia, and Middle East, while it aims to expand to Europe and China in the near future. The concept of ‘origins’ resonates with the importance that Hyundai Motor, the brand’s parent organisation, places upon its legacy and how Genesis draws upon Korean culture to craft its luxury brand.

The branded content elements include a series of videos published on the channel that will focus on the origin story of Genesis and how the brand draws inspiration from Korea’s legacy and heritage. This will culminate in a short film about the parent company’s own origins story, the rise of the company and the success of its founders.

“This is a seamless partnership where we have worked with Genesis to align the DNA of the luxury brand with the stunning storytelling from Great Big Story,” said Sunita Rajan, Senior Vice President, Advertising Sales, Asia Pacific, CNN International Commercial. “Through an exploration of stories about creation and legacy, Great Big Story can be a powerful brand-building platform amongst a global audience and continue the growth of Genesis as it disrupts the luxury automotive market.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Genesis on the creation of a new channel at Great Big Story,” said Chris Berend, co-founder of Great Big Story and senior vice president, digital video for CNN and CNN Digital Studios. “The origin of things is a theme that is deeply resonant with our global audience of curiosity seekers and in Genesis we have found a partner that sees the world the way we do—through a lens of quality, craftsmanship and an awareness of how we all got here."

“Since the Genesis brand was introduced to the world, curiosity around the brand has been greatly aroused. We feel that now is the right timing to unfold who we are to the global audience in a more in-depth way. There are so many hidden fascinating stories behind Genesis, and they will be unveiled through a year-long partnership with Great Big Story,” said Manfred Fitzgerald, head of Genesis brand, “Great Big Story is the perfect partner for Genesis in terms of its genuine approach to stories and fresh perspectives, so we are really looking forward to the exciting journey ahead of us.”

About CNN International CommercialCNNI Commercial (CNNIC) is responsible for CNN's intercontinental commercial operations, spanning a diverse linear and digital news and information portfolio across five continents. This includes platforms such as CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Arabic, Great Big Story, CNN Style and CNNMoney, and a number of other verticals and local properties. CNNI Commercial delivers best-in-class, award-winning cross-platform ad sales, brand and marketing solutions combined with advanced digital trading and data capabilities. It operates a Content Sales and Licensing business, which offers a suite of consultancy, content and CNN-branded initiatives around the globe. It also has a business development unit that establishes strategic partnerships to serve new audiences. The organisation’s branded content studio, Create, has been producing award winning content for clients for over ten years. CNNI Commercial is part of Turner, a TimeWarner company. For more information, visit http://commercial.cnn.com

About Great Big StoryFounded in 2015, Great Big Story is a distributed video storytelling network dedicated to telling awesome, untold and inspiring stories. Its goal: to reach the “intellectually curious” with non-fiction stories spanning four main categories: human condition, planet earth, frontiers and flavors. In just one year, Great Big Story has developed a multiplatform audience following of more than 6 million people by beaming its stories across Facebook, YouTube, an iOS and Android app, Apple TV and Roku.

About GenesisGenesis, the luxury automotive brand, strives to make a positive difference in the lives of customers, becoming an important element of their lifestyle. This rapidly growing brand has been launched in Korea, North America, Russia and Middle East since 2015. With its strong focus on design, Genesis has introduced fascinating products that embody athletic elegance. Starting from the brand’s flagship G90, Genesis has unveiled G80 and G80 Sport, and its product line-up will keep expanding. While the first Genesis dedicated brand space has opened in Korea this September, more brand spaces will also open in major cities in the near future. For more information, visit www.genesis.com